Most read ▸
Beginnings of a New Day
There were two of them, silent, so unusual
Green Barbets, on the Papaya tree.
A flurry of green wings, heads cocked
They studied the ripe, yellow Papaya.
To lie on bed and watch birds in the morning!
One nibbling on one and the other on the other –
Pity me! The fruits I had hoped to pluck today!
Then hopped down a Woodpecker – what business
Does he dare here, I wonder, this nemesis
Of worms and termites? So do the Barbets –
Awed at his red crest and sharp beak
And how funnily he sat on the stem, so unlike birds!
One Barbet hurried away – the other sidestepped the ‘Pecker
And watched him, like me, head cocked
Jabbing away at the ripe yellow Papaya.
Filled, he left, the mighty Woodpecker